Mux200: Retromux Deux (plus Mux001 and Mux100)

So it only took eight years, but Mux200 has arrived! And, just like Mux100, this Mux is comprised (almost) entirely from bands that featured on the very first Mux back in 2008. Well, the first Mux only had 11 tracks, so I tossed on a Radiohead cut to bring it up to 12; no major foul given that Radiohead featured on Mux002.

I probably won't do a third Retromux for 300 (set for, at this rate, sometime in late 2020) given that a lot of these bands have either called it quits or have faded considerably. For example, The Joggers probably won't release another album, and I've used up all their muxable tracks. And Dan Deacon hasn't really done anything too spectacular as of late, same with The Smashing Pumpkins and... well, you get the idea. Maybe I'll revise that idea in 2020 and make it a combination of 001 and 002.

Last thing: Same as the jump from 099 to 100, there's new art for 200 and going forward. 001-099 was a picture I accidentally Photoshopped that way when I was 12 or so, and 100-199 was a rather triumphant photo of me leaping over fireworks after a particularly-difficult day of shooting Archetype. Given my total lack of talent at graphic design (and I haven't really directly talked to JET lately, who did some awesome art for the two Tapes By JET), I just took a rather horrifying picture of me. If anyone thinks it far too terrible for these fines Muxes, make me something better!

So download or stream Mux200, and check out Muxes of yore below it.

1. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? (Hearts of Oak)
2. Destroyer - European Oils (Destroyer's Rubies)
3. The National - Looking For Astronauts (Alligator)
4. The Joggers - Little Kings (Solid Guild)
5. Dan Deacon - Trippy Green Skulls (Spiderman of the Rings)
6. Radiohead - Daydreaming (A Moon Shaped Pool)
7. Cut Copy - That Was Just A Dream (Bright Like Neon Love)
8. Wolf Parade - Dear Sons And Daughters of Hungry Ghosts (Apologies To The Queen Mary)
9. Pavement - AT&T (Wowee Zowee)
10. Spoon - My Little Japanese Cigarette Case (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. My Bloody Valentine - What You Want (Loveless)
12. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock (Siamese Dream)

I readded Mux100: Retromux to my Dropbox, so you can also download or stream that. Tracks below.

1. Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version) (Slanted & Enchanted)
2. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead (Hearts of Oak)
3. My Bloody Valentine - Loomer (Loveless)
4. Wolf Parade - Fancy Claps (Apologies To The Queen Mary)
5. The Joggers - Era Prison (With A Cape And A Cane)
6. Dan Deacon - Snake Mistakes (Spiderman of the Rings)
7. Cut Copy - Autobahn Music Box (Bright Like Neon Love)
8. Spoon - Back To The Life (Kill The Moonlight)
9. Destroyer - Chinatown (Kaputt)
10. The National - Geese of Beverely Road (Alligator)
11. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Acoustic) (Single)

And Mux001: May 2008 is also in there to download or stream. Tracks below.

1. Wolf Parade - Language City (At Mount Zoomer)
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays (Bright Like Neon Love)
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava (Living With The Living)
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face (Glider)
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
6. The National - Slow Show (Boxer)
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year (Trouble In Dreams)
8. The Joggers - Back to the Future (Solid Guild)
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
10. Spoon - Finer Feelings (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman (Spiderman of the Rings)

Until 2020...

Mux155: Muxtastrophe

I like this one as well.

Boom.

1. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Jackson (LOSE)
2. The New Pornographers - Champions of Red Wine (Brill Bruisers)
3. Phoenix - Rally (It's Never Been Like That)
4. Royksopp - Remind Me (Melody A.M.) (For JCD)
5. Flying Lotus - Never Catch Me (feat. Kendrick Lamar) (You're Dead!)
6. Chromeo - Over Your Shoulder (White Women)
7. Bear In Heaven - Demon (Time Is Over One Day Old) (For JET)
8. Strand of Oaks - Heal (Heal)
9. Cloud Nothings - No Thoughts (Here And Nowhere Else)
10. Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert (Slanted & Enchanted)
11. The War On Drugs - An Ocean Beneath The Waves (Lost In The Dream) (For BH)
12. Spoon - They Want My Soul (They Want My Soul) (For JC)

TRT 51:16

2014 music: Bear In Heaven, Chromeo, Cloud Nothings, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Flying Lotus, The New Pornographers, Spoon, Strand of Oaks, The War On Drugs

Mux063: Rough Around The Edges

Download or stream at drop.io.

1. The Fiery Furnaces - Bright Blue Tie
2. Band of Horses - Is There A Ghost?
3. Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good
4. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
5. The National - Mistaken For Strangers
6. Radiohead - Karma Police
7. The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
8. Pavement - Here
9. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood
10. Why? - Fatalist Palmistry (Demo)
11. Jay Reatard - No Time

Mux049: Back to Rock 2

Download or stream off drop.io.

1. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union
2. Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
3. Jay Reatard - Night of Broken Glass
4. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
5. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Mourning In America
6. The Hold Steady - Party Pit
7. Pavement - Trigger Cut
8. Free Energy - Light Love
9. Surfer Blood - Fast Jabroni
10. Death - Politicians In My Eyes

Mux048: March 2010

New month, new mux.

Download or stream off drop.io.

1. Japandroids - Art Czars
2. Local Natives - Wide Eyes
3. Rogue Wave - Solitary Gun
4. The Radio Dept. - This Time Around
5. Broken Social Scene - Looks Just Like The Sun
6. Pavement - Stereo
7. Gorillaz - Stylo
8. Hot Chip - Take It In
9. Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything
10. Los Campesinos! - This Is A Flag. There Is No Wind.
11. The Soft Pack - Answer To Yourself
12. The National - Abel

Mux045: February 2010

Download or stream at drop.io.

Oh, and the tracks? Total mystery. The usual mix of old favorites, new favorites, and stuff the shuffle dredged up.

1. The Thermals - Here's Your Future
2. The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend
3. Beach House - Norway
4. Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes
5. Pavement - Date With Ikea
6. Los Campesinos! - Straight In At 101
7. Tapes 'n Tapes - Insistor
8. Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes
9. The National - All The Wine
10. Four Tet - She Just Likes To Fight
11. Spoon - Written In Reverse

Mux006: September 2008, the reissue

One. More. To. Go.

But despite my more-than-usual muxing compared to, say, when Muxtape first came around and I did just one per month, I should point out that September 2008 takes the record with four muxes.

And here is the second of said four.

1. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow and Blue
2. Oxford Collapse - Featherbeds
3. Vampire Weekend - Bryn
4. Pavement - Gold Soundz
5. Okkervil River - Unless It's Kicks
6. Franz Ferdinand - All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem Cover)
7. Broken Social Scene - New Country (Live at KRVX)
8. The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
9. Joy Division - Shadowplay
10. A Place To Bury Strangers - Ocean
11. Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
12. Jonathan Mak / Everyday Shooter - So Many Ways

Mux008: September 2008, the reissue

Just a few more to go.

Yep.

1. Born Ruffians - Barnacle Goose
2. Bloc Party - Banquet
3. Pavement - All My Friends
4. The Magnetic Fields - Love Goes Home To Paris In The Spring
5. Patrick Wolf - Wind in the Wires
6. TV on the Radio - Family Tree
7. No Age - Keechie
8. The Arcade Fire - Wake Up
9. The Walkmen - Long Time Ahead of Us
10. Professor Murder - Free Stress Test
11. Oxford Collapse - I Hate Nobody
12. Grizzly Bear - Fix It

Mux001: May 2008, the reissue

What better way to procrastinate on heavy Arc lifting than by mixing down my first muxtape, back when there was still Muxtape?

Also: Imeem is a pain in the ass to deal with. You can just go to the drop.io link, hit the drop-down, and select "preview" to stream it. Much simpler, and no registration or anything required.

Download or stream at Dropbox. [Updated to the correct link on April 14, 2018.]

The tracks, back before I was obsessed with sequencing, but sequenced decently:

1. Wolf Parade - Language City (At Mount Zoomer)
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays (Bright Like Neon Love)
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava (Living With The Living)
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face (GLider EP)
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Mellow Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
6. The National - Slow Show (Boxer)
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year (Trouble In Dreams)
8. The Joggers - Back to the Future (Solid Guild)
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
10. Spoon - Finer Feelings (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman (Spiderman of the Rings)

TRT 49:40

The Best Mix Ever (as of July 15, 2009)

Download via drop.io.

Very flavor-of-the-year, but that's the beauty of it. Also, omitted "The Tourist" by Radiohead, which is my Favorite Song Ever but doesn't really fit anywhere.

Oh right, the occasion: Yet another drive to Chicago tomorrow for, among other things, the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival. This should kick things off to a good start.

1. The National - Fake Empire
2. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
3. The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis
4. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
5. Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
6. Jay Reatard - Nightmares
7. No Age - Everybody's Down
8. Radiohead - Fog
9. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
10. My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
11. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
12. Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time
13. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
14. Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach For My Revolver
15. The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
16. Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
17. Spoon - Finer Feelings
18. Rogue Wave - Endless Shovel

Mux001 flashback

How strange of me to reference my first muxtape without supplying said muxtape? Here's the download link at drop.io. And here are the tracks:

1. Wolf Parade - Language City
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
6. The National - Slow Show
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year
8. The Joggers - Back To The Future
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
10. The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
11. Spoon - Finer Feelings
12. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman

That's a solid line-up. Probably because it was my return to mixes after moving out of Chicago, where I was the unofficial music guy at the Post-Production Center. (And, you know, having two years of new music to compile.) While I kept my still-current rule of never repeating a song on a series of mixtapes, back then my only restriction was that a mix came in under 1 hr. 20 mins. so I could burn it to CD and rip it on the work computer. That was in the dark ages before thumb drives - how novel!

I'm glad muxtape added the rule of a max of twelve tracks. For one thing, it weeds out anything not in the top tier of songs. And second, twelve tracks usually rounds out around forty-five minutes, and I usually don't do anything that requires continuous music for more than that time.

Favorite Albums

I'm in the mood for a list. Not numbered, and strictly alphabetical, since this turned out to be a bit more +10 than I thought.


The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
Favorite track: "Rebellion (Lies)"


Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children (1998)
Favorite track: "Roygbiv"


Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)
Favorite track: "Cause = Time"


Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (2004)
Favorite track: "Little Girl"


Deerhunter - Microcastle (2008)
Favorite track: "Agoraphobia"


DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... (1996)
Favorite track: "Midnight in a Perfect World"


Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (2008)
Favorite track: "Okay, Let's Talk About Magic"


John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)
Favorite track: "Resolution"


Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
Favorite track: "Blue In Green"


Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
Favorite track: "Gravity Rides Everything"


My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Favorite track: "When You Sleep"


The National - Boxer (2007)
Favorite track: "Slow Show"


No Age - Nouns (2008)
Favorite track: "Teen Creeps"


Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
Favorite track: "Cut Your Hair"


Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Favorite track: "Time / Breathe (Reprise)"


Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Favorite track: "Kid A"


Weezer - The Blue Album (1994)
Favorite track: "No One Else"


Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
Favorite track: "I'll Believe In Anything"

What are yours?

Early Shooting / Another September Mux

My three time chunks of shooting Transmissions are fast approaching, and my daily pre-pro has kicked into medium-high gear. I'm pretty far down the film's own rabbit hole, and it's strange to think the genesis of the project only began after I finished something else in early July; only two and three-quarter months of this thus far, while all my other projects and stories have been measured by years.

A few things snuck up on me: a major shooting-schedule change; and then another; and another. Another came the other day, and my four days in early October has turned into three. This vagueness warrants a simple explanation: I'm shooting at my parents' house, and for sound and continuity and whatnot, I need to have the house under my exclusive control, e.g. they need to be somewhere else. In early October they're going to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit my grandmother, but the four-day trip was downgraded to three and, well, I don't blame them. Yes, the Upper Peninsula is quite picturesque, but said picturesqueness can only sustain interest for a maximum of about thirty-six hours.

So tomorrow, said parents are shooting a wedding all day, and it looks like I have to turn my planned day of Test Shoots #3 into a partial day of Real Shooting. Nothing major, only some inserts and close-ups of inanimate objects. But having to adapt my finely-tuned scheduled this close to the shoot really rattled me, and I had to rethink my whole strategy. I'm not exactly gunslinging this; it's still as planned and well-coordinated as any one-man film can be.

But still, tomorrow I start shooting and will probably shoot whenever I have a spare hours on hand instead of my original plan of going hardcore for a few select days. So if there was any time to justify my upcoming/relative reclusiveness, now would be that time. But I feel good about the project, and unlike the abandoned Old War and a bunch of other stuff that never got off the ground (a few shorts, a few ideas, a few scripts), I have the confidence to see this one through.

So: Shooting randomly now; shooting not-so-randomly through most of October and early November; then finishing it sometime before February. Considering I'm doing the brunt of the post-production sound work now, the picture editing shouldn't take very long.

And oh yeah here's another muxtape. The tracks before you take the potential dive:

1. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue
   
2. Oxford Collapse - Featherbeds
   
3. Vampire Weekend - Bryn
   
4. Pavement - Gold Soundz
   
5. Okkervil River - Because It's Kicks (special JDK edit)
   
6. Franz Ferdinand - All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem cover)
   
7. Broken Social Scene - New Country (Live at KRVX)
   
8. The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
   
9. Joy Division - Shadowplay
   
10. A Place To Bury Strangers - Ocean (JDK edit)
    
11. Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers (JDK edit)
    
12. Everyday Shooter - So Many Ways